All things bright and beautiful
Radiating beauty from all facets of life was the general theme of Modern Living TV’s (MLTV) second episode for this season. From tips to maintaining natural, young-looking skin to keeping a beautiful home and celebrating relationships by rediscovering one’s roots or by choosing curated gifts, there is always so much goodness to soak oneself in every day.
BEAUTIFUL SKIN AT ANY AGE
Aging is a fact of life and aiming to stay young-looking is perfectly fine. It’s good to know that there are natural ways to defy time and be beautiful at any age, as MLTV hears from natural body care expert, Dr. Linda Miles.
With so many skin-care options in the market, a lot of people simply assume that a product’s potency is directly co-related to its price point. And of course, the practical woman would like to know about the less pricey but equally effective options. Could natural skincare be the key to looking young at any age?
Dr. Linda says artificially-made products contain certain harmful ingredients like parabens, phtalates and mineral petroleum.
“Your skin absorbs natural products better and it responds to the natural actives better because the natural actives are very complex,” says Dr. Linda, adding that natural antioxidants such as pignatelli and antisan can fight aging.
Pignatelli is a pine bark extract from Southern France with many complex set components that are 50 times more powerful than vitamin E, while antisan comes from a marine plant extract that is 500 times more powerful.
She also reminds the viewers that skin is an outer word expression of one’s inner health.
“We have to remember healthy lifestyle — exercise, plenty of fresh water. You can’t have gorgeous skin if you’re eating McDonald’s and drinking 10 Cokes a day, and smoking and drinking all the time,” she warns.
ONE-ON-ONE WITH KEVIN KWAN
In a masterfully woven satirical tale of Asia’s old rich, Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians has made its way to the international best-sellers’ list… and to the hearts of Filipino readers.
In his latest book tour to Manila for the third and last installment for the series, Rich People Problems, MLTV got to chitchat with the favorite author about the story behind his books, growing up, and what being rich is really all about.
Kwan currently resides in Manhattan, New York but he was born and raised in Singapore, hence the deep-rooted passion for the Lion City’s culture and the fascinating lives of the old rich.
For Kwan, his background became an opportunity to break into Western society and give them a glimpse of the Asian culture. His writing is so rich in cultural subtexts that once one gets to know the characters, one might say, “Hey I know someone like that!” every so often.
“In New York, my life is extremely normal, extremely boring — working in media, working in publishing. Then I would go on vacation with my mother in Hong Kong and when we arrive, there will be four maids waiting and picking up our luggage. I’ll be like ‘No-no-no, I’m getting the luggage. I’m a guy.’ … Every time we go back to Asia, things will get more and more out of control. I would come back to New York where I tell to my American friends all the crazy things that I witnessed and no one would believe me,” he remarks.
But whether about fashion, money or lifestyle, for Kwan, there’s a fine line between being wealthy and being tacky. And at the end of the day, for him, there’s one thing money can’t buy and that’s love.
NIX ALANON’S HOME
The young designer is known for his versatility and rich ideas, as seen in MLTV’s previous feature about his own furniture line called Phoenix Home. For one who is making waves in the world of interior design, people wonder how beautiful his own home is.
According to Nix, it took him a year to finish his place, which he shares with designer Rajo Laurel. Every detail was well thought of, every space utilized to match his overall vision. He believes that one doesn’t have to spend elaborately to get the design that one wants.
For Nix, his and Rajo’s home have become their sanctuary. They’ve also found a way to fuse their creativity together.
“Rajo is a maximalist and I’m trying to be a little bit more minimalist in a way, that I do not accessorize a lot anymore. So, he would try to bring some other things from the other house or from wherever and put it in the table. I would slowly take it out and hide it and the next thing you know, tomorrow, it’s back to where he put it,” he laughs.
WINSOME BOXES
Carla Gesilva used to work in the advertising and PR industry, but when she had a child, she bravely took the leap to start her own business.
“The concept of Winsome Box is really to elevate the gifting experience both for the gifter and the giftee, and I call it purposeful gifting because when you put together different items in one gift box, everything complement each other,” she begins.
“We start with the gift brief. It is really just a set of questionnaires that let the giftee think more about the gifter… like what does she do, what does she like to do in her downtime, what does she need at the moment. So from there, I get ideas on what to put in the gift box,” she adds, as she shows the pre-curated boxes containing mixed and matched items.
For her personal tip when it comes to thinking about what gift to give a certain person, she shares: “Everybody knows already that it’s not about the price, but it’s always about the value. And you know the love that you put even if it’s just a simple hand sanitizer if you know that the person really loves hand sanitizer.”